


Alive Again

by Iamnotthewriteryourelookingfor



Category: Merlin (TV), iZombie (TV)
Genre: (Don't worry it's just the arsehole), Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Merlin!Resurrection AU, Minor Character Death, Small amount of violence because Merlin, angst (small), careful here be angst, seriously people need to learn to communicate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4943365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamnotthewriteryourelookingfor/pseuds/Iamnotthewriteryourelookingfor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lowell Tracy died and became a zombie<br/>Then he met Merlin<br/>And remembered he wasn't Lowell Tracy</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just because I got pissed off at how episode 9 went.

Lowell stared down the barrel of the gun. He didn’t feel fear, instead he felt a mixture of calm and brave. He thought about how he had found himself here. That wasn’t much of a mystery. Basically there was this arsehole. The one holding the gun to his head. This was mainly his fault; turning people into zombies, feeding them the brains of murder victims. And then there was Liv; dear sweet Liv Moore (whose name seemed like a cosmic joke) and who should really be putting a round through arsehole’s zombiefied-head. But, in the end, she was a doctor, high on the brains of a dead soldier. She saved people, she didn't kill them. Lowell couldn’t ask her to do this. Finally, a blurred image formed in his mind’s eye. He had seen this image daily since he had been turned; slowly getting more and more in focus. It was a person, possibly a man, with raven hair and pale skin. His name was always just out of Lowell’s reach. And now he would never know. He swallowed and stood tall.

 

Two thin arms wrapped around Blaine’s head and shoulders and pulled. With a sickening crunch, Blaine’s head snapped around, his head being pulled completely from his shoulders. The man standing behind Blaine’s now-permanently lifeless remains was tall and thin, with his face painted whiter than Liv and harshly contoured, making his face appear even more skeletal.

“Come on.”

-*-

 Why Lowell followed him, he could never explain to Liv, who caught up with them as the man was flagging down a taxi. He barely gave her a glance as he gestured for them to get in before following them and giving the driver an address several blocks away, in the shadier part of the city. He said nothing when they arrived at a closed tattoo shop in an empty street. The man unlocked the door and entered, locking it again behind them, and led them to the back of the shop where there were some stairs leading up to another locked door, behind which was a small apartment. They had entered into a small lounge; two battered sofas, a TV and a coffee table covered in books. There was a small kitchen separating the two rooms and another door that presumably led off to the bedroom and the bathroom.

“Who are you?” Lowell demanded as the man locked the flat door behind them. “Why did you save me?” the man licked his black painted lips, even in the golden lighting, he seemed paler than a zombie. Underneath the make-up he seemed pallid and sickly. His lips were cracked and bitten, dark shallows under his eyes; he had a nervous demeanour about him and shifted under Lowell’s angry glare. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Lowell would never believe that this man was capable of any type of murder, let alone the violent way Blaine’s head had been torn from his shoulders.

“My name’s Merlin.” He said, studying Lowell’s face as he spoke. They stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an age before Liv spoke.

“Are we going to talk about what just happened?”

“Do you mean the sniper rifle you had?” Merlin said, his eyes still boring into Lowell’s

“No, I mean you ripping someone’s head clean off their shoulders.” Merlin swallowed and glanced away

“It’s complicated.” Lowell scoffed.

“It’s complicated? Well, that man was, brace for it, a zombie. And he was killing street kids to feed to a customer base he created and you’re perfectly ok with the fact that I said ‘zombie’.” Merlin shrugged, no longer willing to meet Lowell’s gaze. He began to move about the room.

“I’ve killed worse. And zombiism’s no big deal.”

“No big deal? I have to eat human brains or I’ll go crazy and start a zombie apocalypse.” Lowell was already stressed enough as it was, he didn’t need this man’s half-answers on top of the ‘witness-to-a-murder’ problem.

“It’s easily curable.” Liv and Lowell gaped at him

“Did you say ‘easily curable?’ my boss has been trying for months.”

“Well, when I say easily curable… were you both turned by that man?” Lowell and Liv exchanged glances before nodding dumbly. Merlin nodded once as well. “Good. How many people do you think he changed?” they both shrugged. “Nevermind. We’ll get to that later.” He went into the kitchen and began pulling dried herbs and potions out of a cupboard. He placed a few in a large bowl which was engraved with several symbols and brought it over to the coffee table along with an empty glass bottle and two shot glasses. He pushed the books onto the floor and sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table.

“Magic?” Liv questioned. “Isn’t that a bit…?”  
“You’re a zombie. I don’t think you’re in a position to talk.” Lowell sniggered behind his hand. Liv glared at him before turning back to Merlin.

“Do we need to do anything?”

“Let me concentrate.” Merlin closed his eyes. Lowell looked to Liv and shrugged. They both sat on one of the couches so they could see what Merlin was doing. He began chanting in a strange language that tickled at the back of Lowell’s mind. Methodically, Merlin dropped herbs and different potions into the concoction, as he neared the end of the spell, he wiped some of Blaine’s drying blood off his neck with a decorative knife and dripped it into the bowl. His eyes opened, the bright blue turning into molten gold as the potion flashed brightly. Merlin took a deep breath and sighed, his body sagging momentarily as if the energy was drained out of him. Lowell reached out to help him but Merlin brushed his hand away. Was it his imagination or did a small spark pass between the two of them when their hands touched. It must have been Lowell’s imagination because Merlin didn’t react; instead he poured small amount of the grey liquid he had created into the two shot glasses. He held these out to Lowell and Liv.

“Come on.” He said, with a cheeky look in his eyes, which were now back to their normal blue. “Down the hatch.”

 

 The murky liquid was one of the foulest thing Lowell had ever had to put in his mouth. The only thing that prevented him from spitting it back out was the thought of being normal again; playing gigs, eating food that wasn’t drenched in hot sauce and doing the crazy, stupid things he got paid to do. Like jump out of aeroplanes. He paused for a minute, watching Merlin. Then the magic hit him like a brick wall.  It was like every cell in his body was on fire, his head snapped back and his jaw clamped shut against the pain. Beside him he heard Liv gasp in pain. The fire spread through his body in an instant, dispersing just as rapidly. He gasped as the pain dimmed and he slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Lowell Tracy woke up feeling more normal than he had in months; more himself than he had ever felt. His heart was beating strongly inside his chest and his skin felt warm. And he had remembered the man, the raven-haired idiot. _Merlin_. And he was Arthur. _Merlin’s Arthur_. He opened his eyes, almost expecting the gothic boy to be watching him. But Merlin wasn’t there. Arthur, it was so easy to call himself that, was lying on one of the couches, Liv was on the other one. He could hear someone moving about, a softer sound than before. When Arthur sat up he could see that Merlin had dropped the gothic attire that had been complete with dark skinny jeans and heavy combat boots with a few inches on the sole. Instead he wore over-large sweatpants that were bunching at his ankles and a blue sweater.

“How long have I been out?”

“About an hour.”

“And what? You just decided to have a shower?” Merlin nodded, continuing to dry his hair with a towel, using his other hand to put clean dishes away. The raven-haired man was turned away from Arthur but he was sure that the dramatic face-paint had not been reapplied and that he was probably looking more like Merlin should. But then Arthur paused. Merlin was angry at Arthur, his whole demeanour had said that clearly. But when he had realised that Arthur hadn’t known who he was, the anger had faded. Arthur felt a deep ache inside his chest as he thought about the amount of time Merlin had waited for him; had it been since the moment Arthur had died? Was this the same man Arthur had left several hundred years ago? He knew it was selfish but he didn’t want to go and dig up the past; he could give Merlin a happy future as ‘Lowell’ instead of churning up old pain as ‘Arthur’.

 

A soft moan distracted him and he turned back around to see Liv had woken up. Her cheeks were a soft pink, her eyes were sparkling with life. She pressed her fingers against her neck and gasped.

“I have a pulse! And I’m warm. Oh thank god, I’m not dead anymore.” She giggled at the pure absurdity of her situation and jumped up. “Oh this is wonderful. I’ve never felt better.” She grinned and hugged Arthur tightly. “Isn’t this just perfect? I can go back to nursing! Or I can do something else, or… I don’t know. How wonderful is that?” Arthur grinned at her as Merlin detached her from around his waist and shone a light in her eyes as she continue to babble. “My mum’ll get off my back and I won’t have to eat brains anymore, an no more hot sauce and… wait, am I right? No more brains?”

“Yeah. But you can still do the thing where you eat someone’s brain and can see their thoughts. Though for some reason, getting a part of their personality doesn’t stay around.”

“Hmm. So if I get over my disgust of eating brains I can still solve crimes. And I can patch things up with Major and…oh…” she looked guiltily at Arthur. Who just chuckled. He had been trying to think of a way to end things with Liv, now that he had Merlin he couldn’t think of being with anyone else. Now that line of thinking felt wrong but, Liv had given him the perfect way out.

“It’s OK. I think we both made it pretty clear that the only reason we were together was because of the whole ‘undead’ situation.” Liv grinned again.

“Oh, I have to call Ravi, he’ll want to see this.”

“Well, she’s happy.” Merlin said, taking Liv’s place in front of Arthur. “How about you?” he shone the light into Arthur’s eyes.

“I’m-um-good.” Arthur stuttered as Merlin’s long fingers brushed over his skin. “You asked about Blaine’s other… victims?”

“It would be best to cure them as well. We don’t want a zombie apocalypse.  I’ve worked very hard to keep this planet limping along.”

“You what?”

“Nevermind.” Merlin mumbled, dropping the torch on a table. “It’s a long story.” Arthur bit his lip. Should he tell Merlin that he understood? Would it help or hurt? A knock at the front door of the shop downstairs.

“That’s Ravi!” Liv gasped and hurried down the stairs with Merlin. They returned barley a few seconds later with Ravi who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off his friend. Liv was babbling again, going on about freckles and her hair growing back the colour it used to be. Ravi began to talk about medical tests but Merlin interrupted him.

“Later. The sun will be up in an hour, we need to begin curing Blaine’s other victims. I’ll get ready. Pour the rest of the potion into that flask. It’ll be easier to administer it.”

Arthur wanted to follow Merlin as he walked off, pulling his shirt off as he went. Underneath, his body was lithe and pale, with a toned musculature that would’ve made Percival jealous. After a few deep breaths, Merlin walked from his room to the bathroom wearing skinny jeans, boots and a short-sleeved black shirt that showed off elaborative tattoo sleeves. Arthur watched as he began applying white makeup all over his face, ears, and neck. Then he added the sharp contouring with a grey foundation.

“What was Blaine’ reason for changing all these people?” Merlin asked, expertly blending his make-up under his cheekbones and jaw and around his eyes, making him face seem skeletal.

“The usual capitalism plot.” Arthur shrugged “Making customers to peddle his stolen brains. Making a profit.”

“Then that’s how we’ll track down his other victims.” Merlin began applying black liner to his water line.

“Hmm?”

“I assume he has a way to peddle these brains? A list of customers at least.”

“A deli actually.” Arthur told him as Merlin finished by painting his lips black.

“Perfect.” Merlin smacked his lips and grinned. “We’ll start there.”

 

-*-

 

“It’s barely 4am.” Liv yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Everyone is asleep.” They were standing outside of the deli, which was, of course, closed. Merlin’s eyes flashed gold momentarily.

“No. they’re here.” He walked around the back, Arthur, Liv, and Ravi in tow. “Wait here.” Merlin said and kicked in the back door. The three people standing in the back room spun around, ready to disembowel. But Merlin had a gun.

“Good morning Gentlemen, and lady. You have two options; take the cure for zombiesm which will return you to your normal boring selves or you end up like your boss. Dead. Also, I’ll be taking your list of customers. The ones taking Blaine’s ‘special’ orders.” The first henchmen didn’t hesitate; he charged at Merlin. Arthur jumped forward to protect him but before either of them had taken two steps, the henchman fell. The gun hadn’t made a sound, but the bullet had gone through his neck, neatly severing his spinal cord. “Alright. Who’s next?”


	3. Chapter 3

No one else gave them trouble, which was a good thing because  watching Merlin killing people, even zombies, without seeming to care at all scared him. And it bought all the questions from his past life back up.  Not that he really wanted to think about that right now.

No. No he did not. He did not want to think about the possibly numerous murders that had happened while he hand been king. And all the people Merlin had killed then. It was foolish to think that after Merlin had lost him, he would stop killing as he no longer had anything to protect. Oh course he had Gwen, but then what? What had he been doing? Arthur wasn’t even sure how long it had been since he was _King_ Arthur. Every story had been different; before the romans, after the romans, before the Middle Ages, during? After? And of course all history books refused to believe that he had actually existed. He was just a myth. A legend. And Merlin….

“Penny for your thoughts?” Merlin’s voice broke through his daze. Offering a mug of tea and a kind smile, Merlin almost looked normal. Except for the face paint. Arthur smiled and took the mug.

“Thanks.” They were back at Merlin’s place, Ravi had left to start work, still ecstatic about this new discovery and thinking about how magic could be used to solve all kinds of medical problems. Liv had called her soon-to-be-not-ex boyfriend, waking him up at 6am, and they had talked for about two hours before falling sleep on the sofa.

“What’s wrong?” Merlin asked, sitting next to him.

“It’s nothing.” Arthur shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

“If you want to sleep, you can use my bed. I have to open the shop in an hour.”

_How could I have forgotten you?_

“What?” Merlin’s cheeks paled under the makeup and Arthur realised he had spoken those words aloud.

“I’m so sorry.” Arthur said as Merlin pulled away and stood up.

“How long?” he gulped, large tears already smearing his carefully applied makeup. “Did you know from the beginning?”

“No. no.” Arthur stood up and reached for Merlin, trying to comfort him. Merlin pulled away, shaking his head.

“How long then?” he yelled, hugging himself. “How long? How long have you been my–How long have you been Arthur?”

“Since I woke up. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“How can lying to me not hurt me?” Merlin scoffed. “Remember where lying got us last time?” Without waiting for Arthur’s answer, Merlin turned around and left, slamming the front door behind him.

“What’s going on..?” Liv mumbled from the sofa.”

“Just me being a stupid prat.” Arthur said sitting down. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Sorry we woke you.”

“What did you do?” Liv asked, leaning on her elbows

“It’s a long and complicated story.” Liv sighed and sank back down.

“I can’t do long and complicated right now. Can you make it short and simple?”

“I can do shortish. But not simple.”

“I’ll try to deal. Go ahead.” Arthur took a deep breath.

“Many years ago, I was King Arthur and Merlin was my manservant. He had magic and magic was forbidden so he had to hide a large part of himself. But while he did that he also helped people, mainly me. Then I died because I was a hypocritical prat. Now I am reincarnated after he had waited several hundred years for me. And I didn’t remember him until I died, became a zombie then was bought back to life again. And I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want to upset him. I didn’t want to think about the past. And now he’s upset.”  
“Oh wow. OK then. So Knights of the Round Table? Sword in the stone? All that shit is true?”

“Some of it. Disney got it all wrong. Mordred is not my child. So many other things that I can think of are wrong too. But, Merlin? Any advice?”

“Did you apologise?”

“Yes.”

“Do it again, with gifts.” She looked over to him when he slumped down of the couch. “It’s nice to know you were a prat before.”

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

 

-*-

 

It was nearly midday when Arthur heard a uproar in the shop below. Major had arrived an hour ago and he and Liv had gone to lunch.

Arthur ran down the stairs to find Merlin fighting with an ugly man who’s muscle-mass might even surpass Percival’s. He was hairy, heavily tattooed and drunk. At midday! The problem seemed to be the scantily-clad woman Merlin had just been about to tattoo. It seemed like she had decided to get the man’s name tattooed on her breast. And the man hadn’t been OK with Merlin getting anywhere near ‘his girl’s’ chest. Merlin was already supporting a bloody lip and the man had a darkening bruise around his eye. He was going for another punch when Arthur blocked him and delivered three quick blows; one to his stomach and two to his face. The man fell down with a thud like a falling tree. He got up immediately and tried to stare down Arthur who was standing between him and Merlin, shielding his friend from more attacks.

“Get out.” Arthur growled. “Learn your girl is a person, not your personal property.”

“You’re lucky your boyfriend was here, twink.” The man snarled over Arthur’s shoulder. “You should keep your boytoy on a shorter leash” when the door had slammed behind him and his girlfriend, Arthur turned to Merlin, anxiously checking his bloody lip and looking for other injuries.

“I’m fine.” Merlin mumbled.

“You’re hurt. Let me see.”

“I can handle this.” Merlin said, trying to brush Arthur away.

“You shouldn’t have to.”  

“Why?” Merlin scoffed, batting Arthur’s hands away “Because you’re here?”

“I was a fool.” Arthur took Merlin’s hands again. “And I was selfish. I was pretending that I was protecting you but really I was protecting myself.” He took a deep breath. “And I’ve spent the last five or so hours trying to think of something to get you to apologise. But I have no idea where to magic things.” To his surprise, Merlin giggled.

“Oh clotpole,” he hugged Arthur tightly “you don’t need to get me anything.” Arthur smiled and pressed his lips to Merlin’s forehead.

“I want to make it better.” His hand brushed underneath Merlin’s shirt and he felt a shiver go through Merlin’s body. Merlin tilted his head up and pressed his lips against Arthur’s.

“I missed you.” Merlin mumbled against Arthur’s lips. “So much.” Arthur kissed Merlin again. “I can close up early if you want?” Merlin arched his eyebrow cheekily as he regarded Arthur from under his lashes.

“That sounds nice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then they had sex.
> 
> The end.
> 
> OK, short chapter, I know. And I know that 'twinks' are usually blonde, the man wasn't the most intelligent person. and it was obviously an insult.  
> Originally I was going to continue this by adding in Merlin's daughter (an OC called Robyn) but it felt like the addition of was just too much.  
> But I might write a sequel with her in it. That would also include more angst and Merlin and Arthur working through shit.
> 
> Tell me if you want that.   
> Let me know if you liked this.  
> Just message me. I like getting messages


End file.
